Editorial
Pakistan scene
Horse-trading can't help democracy
President Pervez Musharrraf crossed a legal hurdle when the Pakistani Supreme Court ruling on his bid to seek reelection went his way, but the General-turned-President's worries are yet to be over as his rivals look determined to thwart his plans. Eighty-five opposition MPs have resigned as part of their plan to oust Musharraf from the political arena.
Musharraf may have finally decided to give up the position of army chief as it appears by his naming a successor in former ISI chief Ashfaq Kiyani -- a move that might have given him a little more credibility to seek reelection. But he has made his stepping down as army chief contingent upon his reelection as president in a vote on Saturday. He has apparently been able to draw former prime minister Benazir Bhutto into a power sharing deal; of course only after paying a heavy price for it. The former premier is likely to get graft amnesty when she returns home this month. The horse-trading has brought the two arch rivals together, confirming once more that politics can indeed be a strange proposition where the key players act more out of expediency than principle -- especially when individual interests seem to outweigh the collective ones. Musharraf's move might have been a clever one, but he has clearly violated his own avowed policy of giving 'corrupt elements' no place in politics. If graft charges against Benazir are withdrawn without her undergoing a legal process, it will set another bad example in Pakistan's politics. True, politics is not always guided by the principles that its major stakeholders often talk about, but some questions cannot be evaded. For Benazir, it may present an opportunity to stage a comeback, but should she be oblivious of the fact that she is striking a deal with the man who didn't allow her to return to Pakistan for so many years?
The latest developments are not a good omen for the future of democracy in Pakistan. It is the politicians who have been marginalised in this murky situation created by and large by their failure to keep politics under their control. If restoration of people's rule is what they are striving for, then they have to make politics a lot more transparent and not dominated by any individual's plan to perpetuate his or her rule.
If politics becomes a business where the leaders become more concerned about getting their share of the booty, it will be a serious setback to the political process. We want the people of Pakistan to win in their struggle for restoring democracy, but the politicians will have to play a united and assertive role to make this happen. Up till now, they have failed to neutralise Musharraf's plan to stay in power.
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